Miss Sweet Tweener really loves the Japanese culture, and it has rubbed off on me!  Perhaps too it was because – at the same time she was immersing herself in everything Japanese – I was learning about how the stories of Genesis are imbedded in the Chinese language…and the Japanese language characters are derived from the Chinese, still closely resembling them.

I have/am researching Chinese Brush and watercolor painting techniques and have discovered an interesting art (decorating?) form titled “Wabi-Sabi” – that is just fun to say!) The main concept of wabi-sabi is embracing imperfection and finding the beauty in it.  I think that fits in with my calling and purpose – as well as a reminder that (as a recovering perfectionist) I must embrace my own imperfections as the very things that lead me to the beauty found in Jesus…

The Japanese character on the paper square says “Life” on one side and “Fresh” on the other (fresh is the closest character in meaning to “new” that I could find.)  The characters are actually hand drawn on Japanese rice paper, then sewn to a pretty square of scrapbooking paper that complemented the color wash on the butterflies.  The branch came out of our center driveway garden and I covered it with Gel Medium to preserve the natural material.  Fishing line is used to attach the images to the branch; their seeming invisibility create the illusion of the butterflies dancing in the breeze all on their own.  Scraps of muslin and linen flutter off the edge.  I stamped the word “peace”on a scrap of ribbon because the entire assemblage invokes that feeling in me.  You can also see scraps of Japanese writing from old books wrapped around the wood.  The butterflies are printed on the same text on one side and on English text on the other side…

This butterfly blessing was created using the images from this product listed in the digital downloads section here.